Patterns and correlates of self-help group membership in the United States

Data from a recently completed national survey are presented on patterns and correlates of self-help group participation in the United States. Over twenty-five million Americans are estimated to have participated in a self-help group at some time in their lives; over ten million, in the past 12 months. These estimates are conservative and might, in fact, be substantially lower than the actual numbers of participants due to the fact that we excluded groups organized or facilitated by professionals. Clearinghouse data show that professional facilitation is common in contemporary self-help support groups. Synthetic cohort analysis suggests that group membership has been rising over the past three decades, excepting groups concerned with eating problems or with life transitions. Although self-help groups exist to address a wide range of life problems, more than one third of participants--accounting for more than 70 percent of self-help meeting attendance--are involved in groups for substance use problems. Large proportions of people who use self-help groups for substance (50 percent) and emotional (76 percent) problems also see a professional for these same problems. Self-help group participants are more likely than nonparticipants with the same problems to by young, female, white, and unmarried. Participants generally have lower incomes than nonparticipants, although the opposite is true in groups for eating disorders. Those reporting less support and more conflict in their social networks were more likely to participate in self-help groups than those with more supportive networks. Generally, those with a lower sense of personal control and higher levels of neuroticism were more likely to participate in self-help groups than their counterparts. However, extroversion, openness to experience, and commitment to personal growth are not significant predictors of self-help group participation. (1997)